Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alliance has secured a majority in the initial vote count in the general election. However, the margin of victory is lower than predicted by TV channel exit polls.
Despite early trends suggesting a decline in the stock market and depreciation of the Indian rupee, exit polls on June 1 projected a landslide victory for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a two-thirds majority for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
By Tuesday morning, the NDA was leading in nearly 300 of 543 parliamentary seats, with the opposition Congress party trailing behind. This lead is based on only 10-15% of total votes counted, a small fraction of the total.
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Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera has cautioned that these are very early trends and the results may improve with time. Indeed, exit polls have often been wrong in India, and analysts note that accurate exit polls are a challenge in such a large country.
If the ruling coalition wins, Modi, 73, will become the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to hold the office of prime minister for three consecutive terms. Modi has led the BJP to huge victories in 2014 and 2019, wooing Hindu voters through various tactics.
About one billion people were registered to vote, out of which 64.2 million people cast their votes. Modi has expressed confidence that the people of India have voted in record numbers to re-elect his government. The final outcome may differ as vote counting continues, with the majority of votes cast in electronic voting machines (EVMs) yet to be counted.
